Device for the diathermic treatment of the human body



E. LAST Dec. 30, 1930.

DEVICE FOR THE DIATHERMIG TREATMENT OF THE HUMAN BODY Filed April 5, 1929 INVENTOR E64, ATTORNEY- Fatcnted Dec. 3%, 193% STAS PATEN' FICE ERW'IN LAST, OE VIENNA, AUSTRIA Application filed April 5, 1929, Serial No. 352,687, and in Austria February 21, 1929.

In the diathermic treatmentof parts of the human body there arises the diiiiculty that the heating efi ect produced in the several parts of the body is of different intensity, this being due to the fact that different parts of the human body are possessed of a different electrical resistance. In particular, in the diathermic treatment of the human face it is found that with the known diathermic devices it will not b possible to apply an intensive diathermic treatment simultaneously, for instance, to the forehead or the orbital part and to the chin part of the human face. As the chin part is possessed of a greater elect 'ical resistance than those parts of the face at which there is a padding of fat, the said chain part and subsequently thereto also the under cheel; part will be quickly heated, while the upper portions of the face will distinctly remain arrear as regards their being heated.

This invention has primarily for its object to so construct a device for diathermic treatment of the human body that these drawbacks will avoided. According to this invention this is attained essentially by subdividing the contact surface of one of the electrodes which serves for the introduction of current into a plurality of surface portions wl'iich are insulated from each other in such a way that electric currents of intensities which re different from each other may be supplied to the different parts of the l1ll1t111 body.

. in the drawing there is shown an example of a device for diatherm c treatment const ctcd according to this invention, Fig. 1 being an external view of an electrode which serves for diatherniic treatment of the human face, Fin. 2 a section taken along the line D llil of Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 a diagram of the electrical connections of the device.

As may be seen from Figs. 1 and 2, the electrode 1' is of the form of a mask made of a form to fit the face to be treated, said mask consisting of a non-conducting mass provided at the side directed towards the face of the patient with a current conducting surface in the form of a tin-foil covering 00. This tinfoil covering is divided by means of free interstices into a plurality of portions which are insulated from each other. More especially, the tin-foil covering is so subdivided, that the portions 2, 2 will be positioned underneath the eyes, portion 3 at the forehead, portion at at the nose, portion 5 at the chin, and portions 6, 6 at the cheeks.

Every individual surface portion is conductively connected to a current supply terminal 8 which passes through the mass of the electrode to be accessible from the out side of the mask.

In order to carry out the treatment, the electrode 1 is placed upon the face of the patient to be treated, while the second electrode' 10 which may be on ordinary leadelectrode is placed in contact with any bare portion of the body of the patient. The electrode 10 is connected with one pole of a source of diathermic current 11.

Every current supply terminal Sis connected by a lead 12 with an adjustable resistance 14;, while the leads coming from the other ends of the resistances 14 are connected with each other and with the other pole of the current source 14.

By properly adjusting the resistances let it will be possible to supply the desired current strength to every part of the face to be treated. However, it will also be possible to connect several parts of the face to be treated through a common adjustable resistance with the current source, such as is indicated in Fig. 3 in connection with the leads connected with the orbital and cheek parts, in order to supply currents of equal strength to several parts of the face.

I claim:

1. A. device for the diathermic treatment of the human body comprising an electrode subdivided into several conductive surface portions which are insulated from each other,

immovable with respect to each other and adapted'for treatment of different parts of "the body, and means for simultaneously supportions which are insulated from each other, immovable with respect to each other and adapted for treatment of different parts of the body, means for simultaneously supplying diathermic current individually to said several surface portions, and terminals conductively connected with each of said surface portions, said terminals being accessible from the outside of said device.

3. A device for the diathermic treatment of the human body comprising an electrode subdivided into a plurality of conductive surface portions which are insulated from each other, a current supply terminal associated with each of said conductive surface portions, and means for supplying diathermic currents of different strength simultaneously to said several surface portions.

4. A device as specified by claim 1 for the diathermic treatment of the human face, in which the electrode comprises a surface portion positioned underneath the eye to permit special treatment of the orbital portion of the face.

5. A device as specified by claim 1 for the diathermic treatment of the human face, in which the electrode comprises a surface portion positioned along the forehead to permit special treatment of the forehead portion of the face.

6. A device as specified by claim 1 for the diathermic treatment of the human face, in which the electrode comprises a surface por tion positioned along the nose to permit special treatment of the nose portion of the face.

7. A device as specified by claim 1 for the diathermic treatment of the human face, in

which the electrode comprises a surface portion along the cheek to permit special treatment of the cheek portion of the face.

8. A device as specified by claim 1 for the diathermic treatment of the human face, in which the electrode comprises a surface portion along the chin to permit special treatment of the chin portion of the face.

9. A device as specified by claim 1, having adjustable resistances inserted into the circuit leading to the several surface portions of the electrode, whereby a current of variable strength may be supplied to said several surface portions.

10. A device as specified by claim 8. having adjustable resistances inserted into the circuits for the terminals, whereby a current of variable strength may be supplied to said several surface portions.

11. A device as specified by claim 1, in which several surface portions of the electrode are connected with a current source through a common. resistance whereby current of the same strength is supplied to said several surface portions.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

DR. ERWIN LAST. 

